MIchael Prescott - The Shadow hunter

"No, it can't be true. Why would he want to help that man? What conceivable motive could he have?"

"Well, this is only speculation…"

"Say it," Kris snapped, losing patience.

"Western Regional Resources isn't the only such corporation Howard established. He owns several. He's been moving his assets-your assets-into secret accounts offshore."

A beat of silence in the room while Kris took in this statement and its implications.

"Hiding our assets," she said finally.

"That's what you mean, isn't it? Hiding them from me?"

"It looks that way."

"So he can leave me and… when we split the estate…"

"Exactly"

"Then it's true." Kris turned away, staring blankly at nothing.

"What's true, Kris?"

"That he's been unfaithful to me. I suspected it. But I couldn't quite believe…" Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"I wonder who she is."

Abby didn't answer. This was one blow she could spare Kris.

"We might be wrong," she said weakly.

"About the transference of assets, the corporations he's set up?"

"Well, no. That part is pretty well nailed down, but it doesn't prove he's Hickle's accomplice. Not absolutely."

"Not absolutely," Kris echoed, then added in the same faraway voice, "I wonder if he thought I was unfaithful too."

"Why would he think that?"

"I've been offered the opportunity. I turned it down.

But Howard might not have known that. He might have thought I went through with it." She looked away.

"It's even possible he wanted us both dead."

Abby couldn't see what Kris was getting at, but she asked no questions.

Sometimes it was better to just let a person talk.

"No." Kris shook her head after a moment's reflection.

"That doesn't make sense. Howard couldn't have anticipated that Paul would be with me in the car last night, could he? It was the first time he'd ever accompanied me home."

Paul.

Abby sat very still, but under her the bed seemed to shift as if in a small earthquake, or perhaps it was her world that had shifted off its foundation.

In the same moment Kris came back to herself, realizing what she had revealed.

"Oh, God, I didn't mean to say all that."

Abby found a smile somewhere inside her and brought it to the surface.

"It's okay, Kris."

"Did you know? Did he tell you about his… his interest in me? I mean, you work so closely together."

Closer than you know, Abby thought-but not quite close enough: "He didn't have to tell me." she answered, he? voice steady, her face an emotionless mask.

"I guessed."

"Oh." Kris was relieved.

"Of course. You're intuitive about people, aren't you?" "Nearly always," Abby said lightly, putting the slightest ironic emphasis on the first word.

"So Travis suggested having an affair?"

"He didn't put it quite that crudely, but, well, he made it clear he was available. He's not seeing anyone now, apparently."

"When did the idea first come up?"

"Oh, I guess around the time when I was threatening to leave TPS. He was very persuasive in getting me to stay. At first I thought the rest of what he said was just part of his sales pitch. Later, when he restated his intentions, I began to realize he was serious."

"You must have seen him fairly often."

"He would drop by the house every week or so. Almost always when Howard was out playing golf. He's quite a golfer, my husband. Paul would update me on the situation. It was mostly business, but then there would be a more personal touch. He knew I was unhappy with Howard. He said we would be good together.

But he was a gentleman about it. No pressure at all."

"Did anything happen?"

"No. I may be the last person in the greater LA area to still honor my marriage vows. I won't say I wasn't tempted. He can be a charming man.

And who knows?

Maybe we would be good together, as he said. But we never did anything.

It was all very civilized."

"Do you think he's still interested?" Abby asked, already knowing the answer.

"I know he is. I think, in some odd way, he's a lonely man. He told me once that the women he's been with have never meant much to him.

They're merely-well, diversions, I guess. Novelties. Like with Howard and his toys."

"Toys," Abby echoed. There was a stillness within her that felt dangerous, like the hush before a storm.

"I doubt the women were to blame for that. Paul's a fascinating man, but he keeps his feelings close to the vest. He doesn't open up, and he's not easy to open up to."

"But you got him to open up."

"Emotionally? Yes. We just connected, I think. Even though we never did more than talk, it seemed to mean a lot to him. To me too. I needed somebody to talk to, somebody who wouldn't treat me like a paranoid fool because I worried about Hickle all the time.

Somebody who would show me some respect.

Howard never respected my feelings at all."

"How do you think Paul felt about your time together?"

Kris smiled.

"He told me it was like coming alive at the age of forty-four. As if he'd been numb for years, withdrawn and tight, until…"

"Until you."

"I know it sounds silly-"

"No, it doesn't. What about Howard?"

"Howard?"

"You seemed to think he suspects you of actually having an affair."

Kris pursed her lips.

"I think I was being hysterical.

The truth is, I doubt Howard has a clue that Paul has ever looked at me as anything other than a client. He's too wrapped up in his toys and cars and… maybe this plot against me."

"If he is Hickle's accomplice…"

"Yes?"

"You'll be free of him."

"I suppose I will."

"And Paul will still be there."

"You're asking if I might hook up with him?"

Abby nodded.

"It seems to be what he wants. And from what I can tell, it's what you want too."

Kris laughed sadly.

"Oh, hell, I don't know what I want. You know, everybody's life is such a mess, isn't it? We're so screwed up, all of us." She fixed her blue gaze on Abby.

"Except maybe you."

"Me?"

"You're one of the few truly self-sufficient people I've run into. I'll bet you wouldn't get your love life tied up in knots like this, would you?"

"Don't be so sure."

Kris lifted an eyebrow.

"So you have your blind spots too?"

"Maybe just one. But it's a big one."

"Well, I'm glad we have something in common."

Abby was silent. She didn't know what to say.

"It's good you told me all this," Kris added.

"I wouldn't have wanted to find out from the police or our lawyer."

She took a step toward the door. Abby stopped her.

"You never answered my question."

"About Paul? A future with him?" Kris canted her head to one side, an unconsciously glamorous pose, her blond hair falling across one shoulder like golden smoke.

"You know, it's funny."

"Is it?" Abby wasn't finding anything funny right now.

"Before last night I would have said no. But now… well, Paul Travis saved me. He pulled me out of that car and dragged me to cover with shotgun shells flying.

He saved my life." She emitted a short laugh like a sob.

"Howard didn't even come out of the house."

Abby nodded slowly. She'd heard everything she needed to hear.

"Thanks, Kris."

"What for?"

"This talk."

Kris shrugged, honestly bewildered.

"I'm the one who should thank you for all you've done. And just now… for listening."

"I'm a good listener." Abby smiled.

"Everybody tells me so." They said good-bye. Abby sat on the bed and listened to Kris and her bodyguard walk away down the hall. Their footsteps faded out, and Abby was all alone.

Still she didn't move. She thought it was possible she would never move again. Maybe she had experienced too many poundings, physical and psychological, over the past twenty hours. She was worn out. She'd thought-she had honestly thought-"I thought he loved me," she whispered, saying the words aloud to hear them in her own voice.